SPQR

To Rome with Love

Crit

This didn't make my face hurt from smiling so much, as did Midnight in Paris when I first saw it, but it made me smile plenty, and it made me hungrier to return to Rome again before I die than that film or Vicky Cristina Barcelona did for their titular cities.

Contrary to most critics, apparently, I liked the Alec Baldwin-Jesse Eisenberg story the best, partly because I like when Woody gives us ghosts or something like ghosts, and partly because, come on, Greta Gerwig and Ellen Page. Not that there's a story senza an engaging woman or two, and Penélope Cruz gives a bravura turn as a hooker.

But the most bella è Roma.

Trailers

• The Perks of Being a Wallflower--Nerdstory, seems notable mostly as a post-Potter breakout for Emma Watson.
• The Words--Another cross-chronological-parallel-love-stories story, with a plagiarism twist.
• Beasts of the Southern Wild--Oh, hell, yeah!
• Celeste and Jesse Forever--Exes as close friends? Implausible.